f/8 and Be There workshops

I just found on the web Steve Kossack's f/8 and Be There workshops. On this trip you'll learn the how, when and where of photographing Yosemite Valley.

Interested in seeing some of the greatest photographic areas with like minded people? Want to learn the the art and strategy of Landscape photography? Come join us on one of these photography workshops.

Landmarks of the Southwest, October 27-31, 2005

Yosemite in Winter, February 9-13, 2006

Death Valley, March 11-15, 2006

Yosemite High Camp Backpack, August 26-September 1, 2006

Last day in Peru

I am now in Cuzco waiting for my transfer to airport and doing last minute shopping for gifts. Today I will fly from Lima back home.

Machu Picchu

I have done Inca Trail. It was tougher than I toughteven if trail itself is not that difficult. What makes it difficult forme was that I made many things first time in my life. First time I was hiking on altitude around 4000m, first timeI giked 4 times in rowso there was not time time to regenerate. My knees and feet are sore but I am happy I tried it. Many things could be better if I new some tricks before:

Do not try to carry all your stuff with you. Porters cost $50 for entire trail and you need really only camera, water, warmer cloths, rain poncho, insect repellant, sun screen. Your sleeping bag, tootbrush is not needed on a trail but it weights :-)

If possible wear long sleeves and pants. Bugs are really enoying and you will not feel them busy with climbing :-)

Hiking poles are usefull. Get lightest posiblebut you can buy wooden sticksfrom locals on thetrail. If you got hiking poles get rubber tips cause you cannot use metal on the trail. Again locals would sell you one pair for 3 soles :-)

Sun screen is good if you do not want to get burned like me :-)

Go slowly, altitude will suck your stamina very clickly

Always got somespare change, on first 2 days you can buy water on the trail soyou donot have to carry it

Come to Machu Picchu before 9AM (sunrise is ussually around 5AM and bus service starts around 6AM) if you want to take some pictures. Later tourists are everywhere:-)

Cuzco

I spent 4 days in Amazon jungle. It´s amazing but rauning season alrady started so it was quite muddy. We have to walk in rubber boots. I am in Cuzco tonight. Tomorrow I will go to Inca Trail.

Lima, Peru

I am waiting at Lima airport for my flight to Puerto Maldonado. It looks I did not take any ATM card with so I have to wait till 9:00 for bank opening to get some cash cause I do not have PINs for my credit cards. MIstake, always carry some cash with you :-)

I spent a night in Carmel Hotel which was located on Atahualpa street what a coincidence ;-)

Surprise, they got US current outlets in hotels :-)

Lima airport looks very nice, maybe it's brand new?

Photoshopsupport.com

It looks like it could be insteresting site to explore...

My Nikifor at Mill Valley Film Festival

In an extraordinary cross-gender performance, actress Krystyna Feldman becomes the curmudgeonly Polish folk artist Nikifor, a naive painter whose prolific talent and sheer stubbornness brought him national fame. Based on a true story, My Nikifor (crystal globe award, Karlovy Vary 2005) unfolds in mid-20th-century Poland across a gray winter landscape further oppressed by Communist party politics and perpetual shortages.


See Mill Valley Film Festival page.

Xara Xtreme on Linux

Xara announced that it intends to make its flagship graphics product, Xara X (in its latest and greatest incarnation, Xara Xtreme), Open Source. Xara is also working to bring it to the Linux and Mac platforms.

Xara Xtreme on Linux will not only bring a leading-edge graphic tool to the platform, but with community assistance, has the potential to become the world's most powerful, easiest-to-use and simply the world's best graphics program. If we get it right this could bring the Linux desktop into whole sectors of the market that is has not been able to address before.

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 USM L

I just got new lens for my camera. It should replace two of my lens Sigma 20 1.8 EX DG Aspherical RF and Tamron SP AF28-75/2.8 XR Di LD Aspherical. The Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 USM L has a very good to excellent performance. The lens exhibits very little vignetting and excellent resolution figures. The construction quality is next to perfect. All-in-all probably the best standard zoom for APS-C Canon EOS DSLRs at the moment. I will put it into test soon during my trip.


Reviews:
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EF-17-40mm-f-4.0-L-USM-Lens-Review.aspx
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00009R6WO/103-3094218-0319807?v=glance
http://www.fredmiranda.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=3&cat=27
http://www.wlcastleman.com/equip/reviews/17-40/

Picasa 2.1.0 Build 27.54

What's new:
Multiple interface languages – Picasa is now available in Chinese (simplified and traditional), Dutch, English (U.S. and UK) , French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. When you start Picasa, the software will automatically match your system's native language. To change the language in Picasa, go to Tools > Options. Change the language using the pulldown menu on the "General" tab. You will need to close and re-open Picasa to see your changes take effect.

BlogThis! - Post a photo to your blog in one click. Picasa's new "BlogThis!" button replaces the "Blogger" button and allows you to upload your photos directly to the Blogger web editor, without the need for a Hello account. To use, select a photo in Picasa and click the "BlogThis!" button. (If you do not have a Blogger.com account, follow the steps on-screen to create one.) When you are signed in to Blogger, the web editor will open. Click "Publish" to post your photo to your blog.

Print CD covers – Turn any photo into cover art. Click the "Print" button. Go to Tools > Options > Printing. Select "CD Cover Size" and apply. "CD Cover Size" is now one of the print layout choices.

Improved RAW handling – Picasa supports more RAW formats and cameras in this release, with improved color-balance support and faster speed. Work with your highest quality files from these camera manufacturers: Canon (.CRW, .CR2), Nikon (.NEF), Olympus (.ORF), Pentax (.PEF), Kodak (.DCR), Sony (.SRF), Minolta (.MRW), and Fuji(.RAF). New models supported include the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT (aka the 350D), Pentax *istDS, Konica/Minolta Maxxum7D (aka the Dynax 7D).

External drives - Find photos on external drives using Picasa. Simply go Tools > Folder Manager to choose whether Picasa should scan a connected external drive to find pictures. When you unplug and reconnect, Picasa will find your pictures instantly (with no scanning), and will also preserve your labels

Send To Flickr Bookmarklet

The bookmarklet that lets you send a photo from any web page to your Flickr account

REI Peak UL

On my last hike I broke my newly purchased carbon hiking pole. It looks like REI accepted it as defective and I bought new ones.

I also bought MSR Miox Water Purifier, it's the latest water treatment device on the market:

Half Dome

With all my photo gear I bearly crawled up to the top of Half Dome. I got blisters on my feet, on my hand, I lost 6 pounds I made it. I hope it would help me do well on Inca Trail :-)

SuSE 10.0 OSS

Today, Novell released SuSE 10.0 OSS for download. Product highlights include kernel 2.6.13, gcc 4.0.2, glibc 2.3.5, improved boot times and Xen 3. Torrents are available for the i386, ppc and x86_64 versions.

My Flickr Badge

My Badge,
originally uploaded by melastmohican.

Pictures from Dance Party Polonez

My friend is playing in football team. They won two cups this season. Two weeks ago they had dance party to celebrate. I took more than 900 pictures :-)

Kaiser Peak

Yesterday we hiked to the top of Kaiser Peak. There was no people on the trail. We got whole moutain for ourselves. For me it was tough hike. My first on this altitude. Last 500 feet in elevation felt I endless. 10289 ft is the highest altitude I walked in. I was higher in Colorado but by car.